"...We gotta watch the commercials somewhere!"

http://www.youtube.com/shows

As of today, YouTube will now play movies and t.v. shows on it's website. This is great news for all of the users who would record and upload material to the site for others to see, but fear account deletion due to copyright claims by studios and production companies. Along with this new media comes new ads. And in less than 24 hours, opinions are already starting to fly.



In the above video, a popular YouTuber named Skorpion tells his view of the change.

"Who cares about the little advertisements? Sometimes the advertisements are only 30 seconds," Skorpion tells his subscribers who filled his inbox demanding him to voice his opinion.

"People don't watch t.v. no more so we got to watch the commercials somewhere," he added.

Skorpion also compares YouTube's changes to the recent remodels at MySpace and Facebook. He does his best to inform viewers that "these companies are in a business to make money."

Another user, tyistech (Ty is tech), gives a more detailed explanation of why the changes came about and how users can switch to YouTube's new 2.0 format.



In Ty's video, he says YouTube is making the change because the company is losing money.

"It's estimated that YouTube's bandwidth is over $1 million a day," Ty said.

According to him, YouTube is making money. But is still losing $167 million a year.

After his explanation, users can watch Ty go step-by-step, switching to YouTube's new interface.

What is your opinion about this?
Will this affect/effect you going to Hulu or other websites for your favorite shows/movies? What's your opinion about the ads?

Answer any question you want or answer all three.

P.S. YouTube also announced last week that they are planning a joint venture with Universal Music Group to present music videos on YouTube.

"Taser Terror" covered...

Student newspaper, The Daily Helmsman, has covered the tasering incident that occurred Monday nite at 2 a.m. on campus. According to the paper, Othman Djuliarso, was walking towards South Hall dormitory on campus after practicing drums in the Communication and Fine Arts building when "DT" approached him asking where the nearest Burger King was located. The conversation continued as Djuliarso attempted to walk faster towards the dorm and mid-sentence "DT" suddenly applied the taser gun to the victims neck, back. After 10-15 shocks, Djuliarso managed to get free but fainted briefly under the bookstore overpass. After regaining conciousness Djuliarso ran to Police Services at the nearby Zach Curlin Parking Garage to report the incident. The victim got away with Djuliarso's cell phone and iPod.

This morning in an email to faculty and students, Bruce Harbor, Director of Police Services, reported that an arrest was made around 3:30 a.m. this morning by an officer who spotted someone to matches the assailant's description.

Here's an excerpt:

"On Wednesday, April 15, 2009, around 3:30 AM, a University police officer on patrol observed a male matching the description of the subject responsible for the “taser assault” on April 14, 2009. The male was walking in the area of Desoto and State Street. The male was taken into custody and a taser-like “stun gun” was recovered. The male was arrested by University officers and transported to 201 Poplar. "

The paper did an excellent job with this story. However, under this story is another article with the headline "A great night for conversation." I don't think that article appropriately followed a story so serious as this one.

You Need to OWN IT!

In journalism class yesterday (thanks Dr. Kelley), my teacher talked briefly about owning your own dot com. It's a way to brand yourself, to upload works, and to have a professional identity.

So, today I searched the web (links: Yahoo!, Yahoo! Answers, Google, About, MSN)for the best way to get my own web address.

I cannot honestly say I was given clear information about how to appropriately do the process. Most sites recommend starting with http://www.godaddy.com/

So, I went there and their site is confusing. There's a too many different things leading to too many different places. However, they automatically figured out how to tell me that [YourNameHere].com is taken and you (which would be me in this case) need to pay a fee to try to buy it from somebody else. Sadly, I just gave up on them.

Another link I tried was Yahoo! Small Business. To date, my experience with Yahoo! (which started in 2003 with my first e-mail address) has been smooth. I have Yahoo! Alerts that come to my Blackberry and my lastest e-mail account with them is going great. So, I was eager to see about their process of acquiring a domain name.

Their process was very clear.
1. Enter the web address you're seeking. If it's unavailable, they'll offer substitutions. They also offer a service to keep your information private since all registered domain owners must have their information in a database.

2. Enter your billing information for payment.

3. Confirm your domain name and payment information. Then, you own it!

total cost = $10

http://www.ronalddanielsonline.com/

I OWN IT!
That's ONE step in the right direction.

What do I do next? Any suggestions?

Josh Pastner circles the Local Media

iAdore this post from Mediaverse- Memphis who has coverage from the following:

*WMC - Channel 5
*Fox 13
*WREG - News Channel 3
*Eyewitness News
*Memphis Flyer
*Commercial Appeal
*Fox Sports Radio - 730 AM
*The Daily Helmsman


http://tinyurl.com/mm-pastner

New Coach Gets Covered...

University of Memphis paper The Daily Helmsman covers the new coach and APPEARS to be a little more calm:




[will add more later...]

Media Attention

Question: How do we decide which cases get the most media attention?

[img source]
I remember last year when California was about to allow gay marriage. All of America was talking. By all of America, I mean celebrities - Elton John, Madonna, Lindsay Lohan, Ellen DeGeneres, etc- were talking for months... demanding media attention, DEMANDING to get things done.

But, this month Iowa and Vermont have approved same-sex marriages and no one is really talking about it.

I am yet to see about it on television, hear about it on radio, read about it in a newspaper, and barely click on anything about it on the internet.

I also feel that way about missing persons cases. According to the latest report by the National Crime Investigation Center (associated with the FBI), over 800,000 missing persons cases were reported in 2007. However, as late as last year, missing persons cases like Natalee Holloway's (pictured to the right) were still making headlines.

I just don't understand how some cases are oversaturated and others don't even get a drop of gravy...

Effective Immediately- Commercial Appeal brings changes...

Comics, TV head back to M section
By Staff , Memphis Commercial Appeal
Sunday, April 5, 2009

Changes are coming to The Commercial Appeal beginning Monday.

We're returning the comics and the television listings to the M section.

An improved, redesigned weather map is moving to the back of the Sports section, and the digest of sports news will return to Page 2 of the section, along with the sports TV-radio listings.

We will no longer carry classified ads on Mondays and Tuesdays, but in the back of the Sports section, we will publish all legal ads and the comics that always run on the cover of the section.

These changes are our response to readers' concerns about the placement of regular features and to declining demand for classified ads on Mondays and Tuesdays."

That last sentence is supposed to be their reason, or is it their excuse?

This is another sign that ad dollars are down...

Twitterism.

Convert now or you shall be doomed to the fate of the fail whale!



============================================================================
I forgot to come back and update that ordeal with adding Twitter to my cell phone was because my computer is slightly bootleg. Well, Firefox is, anyway.
============================================================================

my first big twitter experience:



On April 1st when the big news got around that UofM basketball coach John Calipari was leaving the team...I updated my Twitter with a cover of our school's student newspaper, The Daily Helmsman, and within 15 minutes news organizations were following me! It was so exciting. I felt compelled to continuously update throughout the day about things people were saying and the players that I saw.

For me, it felt like a replica of the most tweeted about event, when US Airways flight 1549 crashed in the Hudson River.

[click here to see the infamous pic that caused the revolution]

Everyone was Twitter searching to find people who could give updates about what was going on...amazing.

John Calipari has Ruined my Last 48 Hours

All of Memphis is in an uproar. Why? John Calipari[img source], University of Memphis basketball coach, has decided to leave the team. I really don't understand it though because people have been leaving positions at Memphis for over a year now taking severance packages and early retirement deals since Governor Bredeson refuses to invest in post-secondary education. But, because the famous basketball coach is leaving....there's a ruckus?! I'm sure I am not the only person that feels this way...but, I really don't care. People are really starting to work my nerves.

It started when I was at work yesterday. Nick, the guy that delivers supplies walked up to me with my daily paperwork and asked, "Well Ronald, what are y'all gonna do?" And, since I don't pay attention to sports I had NO clue what he was talking about.

After seeing the clueless expression on my face, he added, "You know Calipari leaving y'all for Kentucky don't you?"

Since, I believe the money wasted on sports should be invested in education, I was elated! Our FAMED Calipari has decided to leave for an eight-year, $31.65 million contract with Kentucky State University. First, the basketball team lost the championship and now they lose their coach!?

Nick, stared at me while I did my mini-victory dance. DOUBLE WHAMMY!

As a student at the UofM [img source]I see first hand EVERY day this pedestal our team sits on. I feel like they walk around as if they are God's second best creation and everybody treats them that way. People say I'm silly. But, for the first time ever, somebody else noticed it. The day after the team lost the Elite 8, my cashier at the Tiger Den spoke greatness: "they could have won if they didn't have those bad attitudes." Her exact words. I wish I remembered her name, wish I had it on film!

Back on subject though...
Later yesterday evening after work, my friend who I ride home with (who's a little older and doesn't go to the school) decided to share with me as SOON as I got in the car that the UofM would be facing a deficit, enrollment would go down the tubes, and tuition would face a drastic increase due to Calipari's leaving.

You should have heard my laughter. It was very therauputic. Memphians are so phased by this man. It's like they are hypnotized. The school has been in a deficit for years now, enrollment has actually been steady, and tuition was already facing a double digit increase before this whole thing came about.

Anyway...I get home to the dorm and there are at least 20 people in the lobby at 11 p.m. discussing how crazy his decision was and that how the players are doomed without him. My theory on that is as I've heard time and time again. 'You can lead a horse to the water. But you can't make it drink.' Calipari is the the leader but it's up to the players (or horses) to decide if they wanna drink or not.

All of what you just read means nothing compared to this...the front page of our school paper the next day:



shock value to the maximum.

Now, everybody feels like the paper was inappropriate for putting a bold statement like that on the front cover. Well, our jobs as reporters are to report what we see and hear in society. That statement is a blunt, direct interpretation of how our most of our school, and Memphis, feels about Calipari's departure.

In class today, we discussed the ethical and unethical things about the front page of the cover. I say the cover did exactly what it was supposed to do. It represents how the majority of students and memphians feel as well as get the attention of innocent people who run across the paper. But, some say it was too mean because it uses the word "DEAD" and the play on words didn't work. Others say the cover should have represented the years calipari was involved with the University instead of the years of his whole life.

I can already tell that this is gonna be a hot topic until this semester end...

But, if I've already grown sick of it....how am I ever going to survive?

comments? questions?